Senior Conservative MPs, regional leaders and industry figures have accused ministers of betraying the north with a delayed and downgraded £96bn rail plan.
Ministers insisted that money-saving changes – including axing the eastern leg of HS2 and omitting a promised high-speed line across northern England – would bring faster train journeys to more communities up to 10 years earlier than planned.
But experts poured doubt on the idea of rapid progress, warning of delays and disruption for commuters after longstanding plans were ripped up. Boris Johnson was accused of reneging on commitments to level up.
The Integrated Rail Plan, published on Thursday, set out a scaling back of the Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) project and the axing of the
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